Severn Arms Apartments

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140-foot, 12-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1906. Designed by Mulliken & Moeller, it is a near-twin of the building to the south, The Van Dyck, built at the same time. They are linked at the middle by a 1-story continuation of the band of black iron-and-glass storefronts lining the ground floor. On the north facade on 73rd Street the ground floor has a central entrance in the rusticated limestone of the 3-story base. It has wood, glass, and iron double-doors recessed atop a few steps, set between paneled pilasters and below a round arch. To the right there is a double-window, two single-windows, and a display-window at the west end. To the left is another double-window, three single-windows (with the western one set higher up), and a service entrance with black metal double-doors.

The west facade along the avenue has a center bay of narrow double-windows, flanked by single-windows, and two more bays of double-windows on either side, with a bay of small bathroom windows inserted between the two southern bays. The single-windows have splayed lintels at the 2nd floor, and the double-window bays have shallow stone balconies at the 3rd floor, each carried on a central scrolled bracket and two squared brackets decorated with a roundel at the tops and three small dentils at the bottoms. The balconies have wrought-iron railings. Capping the base is a projecting band course with modillions and metopes. At each of the four outer double-window bays, the band course bulges outward to form a small, curved balcony with iron railings at the 4th floor. These are supported by console brackets with flanking foliate carvings. There is a wider, squared balcony at the center bay, above a cartouche, and having a pair of elaborate brackets with handing pendants extending down the 3rd floor.

The north facade above the ground floor has two center bays of single-windows, flanked by a narrow double-window bay, a paired window bay, and end bays of double-windows. There are scrolled keystones above the paired windows, and flat, projecting stone balconies at the wider bays on the 3rd floor, as well as the two middle single-windows. Those at the paired windows bays have hanging pendants extending below. The band course capping the base continues on this facade, with four more of the small, rounded balconies at the double-window bays at the 4th floor.

The upper floors are clad in buff-colored brick, with textured stone quoins at the ends. The north facade has projecting balconies on large console brackets at the end bays of the 5th floor, and 2-story stone surrounds at the center bay and inner double-window bays of the 4th-5th floors. These include cornices topping the single-windows, projecting out farther at the center window of the 4th floor, carried on a pair of large console brackets, and pendants lining the sides of the double-windows bays at the 5th floor, where there are crowning cornices with egg-and-dart moldings and central carvings of elaborate bearded faces. The paired windows have stone sills and lintels with textured keystones and imposts. More projecting balconies with large modillions and scrolled brackets front the middle bays at the 8th floor, and a matching set of 2-story stone surrounds frame the middle bays at the 8th-9th floors. The 10th floor is set off by stone band courses at top and bottom, and has stone surrounds at every window. A projecting stone cornice once topped this floor, but has been removed, although the enormous brackets remain. The top two floors also have 2-story surrounds at the middle bays, with the double-windows bays crowned by rounded pediments that break the roof cornice, each with a central cartouche.

The upper floors of the west facade have similar ornament, with 2-story stone surrounds at the center bay at the 4th-5th and 8th-9th floors. The lower one is crowned by a rounded pediment with a cartouche, and the upper one by a peaked pediment with a different cartouche. The outer double-window bays at this level have somewhat simpler stone surrounds, with keyed edges, small rounded balconies at the bases, and smaller cartouches at the tops. At the top two floors the outer double-window bays are crowned by pediments with large cartouches matching those on the south facade.

The south facade, facing the other building across the 1-story connection, is clad in brick with quoins at the edges. It is split by a narrow but deep light court into two wings. Each has single-window end bays, followed by double-windows bays, and small bathroom windows at the middles. At the roof line a metal foot bridge connects the west wings of the two buildings.

The building contains 75 apartment units. The ground floor along the avenue is occupied by Le Jolie Nail Studio, Amsterdam Tobacco House, Amsterdam Wine Company, Joe Coffee Company, and Chipotle Mexican Grill (in the 1-story linking section).